So many buildings to keep up with

A recent Council report that did not receive much media attention is a strategic plan that will likely have one of the biggest impacts on residents’ lives in the decades ahead.

The City of Kelowna is responsible for maintaining nearly 140 buildings – everything from little lift stations that pump water to uphill properties, to multi-million-dollar facilities like the H2O Centre or the RCMP building.

As one of the fastest growing cities in Canada with a projected population growth of between 45,000 and 65,000 new residents by 2041, the City needs to plan and prioritize the maintenance and upgrades to these properties to keep them running properly, or to reassess their value to the community.

Council recently endorsed a Strategic Facilities Master Plan that maps out a process to maintain and upgrade aging infrastructure. Meanwhile, the capacity of City staff to meet these demands is always a challenge. That’s why careful planning and strategic investment is essential to ensure that the City’s facilities can meet the community’s current and future service expectations.

The exciting new facilities coming through the Building a Stronger Kelowna – redevelopment of Parkinson Recreation Centre, and new facilities in Rutland, Glenmore and the Mission – will add to the portfolio of properties that require maintenance.

The City’s Facilities Department conducts regular Building Condition Assessments (BCA) of all City-owned facilities. The BCAs are monitored and updated to determine the Facility Condition Index (FCI) for each facility. The FCI is an industry standard for expressing facility condition.

City staff developed a Facilities Maintenance Policy and renewal strategies including modernization programs to manage facilities. Although renewal budgets have been increased in recent years, maintaining existing service levels across the portfolio will become increasingly difficult as 75 per cent of our existing facilities are 25 years or older and 45 per cent are 50 years or older (nearing or past service life).

The 5-year and 10-year condition FCI forecast indicates that the portfolio requires strategic decisions be made in the next five years to proactively address the data showing 75 per cent of the portfolio has a “poor” to “very poor” rating over the next 10 years without significant investment.

Setting priorities and appropriate budgets in this process comes down to these questions:

· Which facilities should we continue to maintain, which to enhance, which to replace or which to dispose of?

· Which facilities are ideally suited to continue providing services for a growing and changing community?

· What future services and facilities will the community need and where should they be in comparison to the existing portfolio?

· How do we balance the risks, benefits and costs associated with the existing and future facilities portfolio

As Kelowna continues to grow, we will need to add new facilities, redevelop and/or replace existing facilities and manage the remaining portfolio of facilities. The strategy to manage this will be adaptable to accommodate new data, technologies and community needs as they emerge, while also considering long-term costs and the City’s overall infrastructure priorities.

As the report endorsed by Council states: “The realization of this vision symbolizes more than infrastructure— it reflects the community’s commitment to innovation, resilience, and sustainable growth. By crafting and executing this vision, the facilities portfolio becomes an enduring asset, capable of inspiring confidence and delivering enhanced services to current and future generations.”